Ghettos and Jobs in History: Neighborhood Effects on African American Occupational Status and Mobility in World War I-Era Cincinnati

In: Social science history: the official journal of the Social Science History Association, Band 29, Heft 2, S. 241-267

Abstract

This article examines how residence in racially segregated neighborhoods affected the job prospects of African American men in the late 1910s. The analysis focuses on one northern city—Cincinnati, Ohio. The evidence comes from a new longitudinal dataset containing information on individuals linked from the 1920 census to World War I selective service registration records. The results indicate that black male residents of Cincinnati's west end ghetto held occupations similar to those of black men in other Cincinnati neighborhoods and experienced similar rates of upward occupational mobility. Surprisingly, black men in the west end experienced lower rates of downward occupational mobility than did black men in other parts of the city.